Why Does Heartburn Happen at Night?

Did you know that up to 20% of adults experience heartburn at least once? Out of these people, the majority of them felt chest pain at night. Imagine tossing and turning in bed while your chest feels like it is on fire.

This would rob anyone of the chance to sleep peacefully ever again. You will feel uncomfortable with acid reflux symptoms that can leave you groggy for work the next morning.

Here is everything you need to know about heartburn causes and how to remedy the problem to have a good night’s sleep.

What Is a Heartburn?

Heartburn is a burning pain that happens in your chest right behind your breastbone. This chest pain can feel much worse after eating, lying down, or bending over.

Typically, heartburns are common and should not cause a lot of grief. This is because most people are able to manage their discomfort with some nonprescription medications and changes in their lifestyle.

Symptoms of Heartburn

Heartburn is something that can frequently interfere with your daily life if you are not careful.

The primary symptoms of heartburn include burning pain in the chest that occurs at night or usually after eating. You may taste something bitter and acidic in your mouth, indicating acid reflux.

Why Does Heartburn Happen at Night?

Acid reflux can happen when the natural digestive acid gets backed up into your esophagus. Remember that your stomach lining is strong enough to handle a strong digestive acid. But your esophagus is no place for it and can weaken due to it.

Therefore, this is what leads to uncomfortable acid reflux symptoms and heartburn. Although heartburn can happen at any point of the day, it is most common at night due to gravity.

For instance, when you lie down in bed at night, ready for a snooze, your stomach acid can easily move up to your esophagus. This does not often happen during the day when you are more likely to be standing up, thus keeping all that stomach acid down thanks to gravity.

How to Avoid Heartburn at Night?

The first thing you must do to prevent heartburn at night is to stop eating large meals right before bedtime. This is because big meals that leave you very full can increase a lot of pressure on the valve that separates your esophagus and stomach.

Having a big meal each day is okay, but you must ensure that you only eat it in the middle of the day rather than at nighttime. Otherwise, it would be best if you opted to have smaller meals more frequently during the day. Then a meal before bed will not hurt as much.

It is also necessary to stray from drinking alcohol before bed. This is because alcohol can easily trigger acid reflux, and drinking so late in the night can also negatively affect the quality of your sleep.

Since gravity plays such a significant role in heartburn, you should also aim to rest upright to digest your food. After a meal, try to sit upright for at least three hours before you go to sleep.

This will help keep all that acid down so that it does not creep back into your esophagus. Remember to eat dinner as early as possible to give yourself enough time to stay upright.

If you are hungry and cannot sleep without eating something, you should try to have a small snack rather than a meal that would cause chest pains. Otherwise, you can also try to sleep on an incline to reduce the risk of heartburn at night.

Raise the head of your bed to ensure you sleep at an incline. Alternatively, you can also get a wedge pillow that helps you sleep upright.

Diet Changes

Those struggling with obesity can experience heartburn more frequently. Therefore, trying and losing a little weight is essential to ease those heartburn symptoms.

Even losing less than 5 pounds can make a significant difference. Even though heartburn can affect anyone of any size, being overweight is one of the leading causes of GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease).

The more weight you have, the more stomach acid leakage and backflow can occur. You may also feel a lot of abdominal pressure, making sleeping very uncomfortable. Acid reflux can also aggravate other health conditions like asthma, sore throat, vocal cord tumors, and chronic cough.

Therefore, changing your diet to limit alcohol, carbonated drinks, coffee, fatty foods, garlic, and processed foods is essential. Reducing these can benefit GERD by alleviating symptoms in the short term while helping you lose weight down the line.

Bring down your daily calorie intake and take a walk after meals to help with calorie burning. Remember that a healthy diet leads to a lot of positive health benefits that will improve your sleep significantly.

Heartburn Remedies

If your diet and lifestyle changes do not help your heartburn symptoms, you should consider heartburn natural supplements as an option to manage both daytime and nighttime heartburn.

These are the safest to use because feeling heartburn all the time should not be a part of life. Those who experience heartburn more than three times a week may have a chronic condition called GERD that needs to be checked out.

GERD should be taken seriously because it can cause a lot of complications down the line. Some of the worst symptoms are bad breath, trouble swallowing, esophagus cancer, and nausea.

Cure Heartburn Today

Now that you know why heartburn occurs mostly at night, it is time to start making some diet and lifestyle changes. Remember to avoid eating a large meal right before bed.

This way, you can protect your esophagus from all that stomach acid that should not be there. It also helps to sleep on an incline to ensure that gravity does not go against you.

Please stick to your treatment plan of dieting with our supplements. Check out our shop today for the best heartburn treatment supplements that will always give you the best sleep.